EA Asks Fox News for 'Mass Effect' Clarifications

We promise we won't make a 'Fair and Balanced' joke

When a little-known conservative news service called Cybercast posted an error-filled story earlier this month about the depiction of "graphic sex" in Mass Effect, no one cared -- anyone who played Mass Effect knew the charges of it showing full-frontal nudity and that it was marketed to children were blatantly untrue. When a little-read Townhall.com columnist picked up the story and made the same erroneous charges, a few stalwart gamers attempted to set him straight as best they could, and the world moved on.

But a non-issue that should have stayed in a few little-read columns escalated when Fox News picked the story up and ran with it, with the following error-filled segment of their own:

Game Head's Geoff Keighley valiantly attempted to set the record straight, but the overall tone of the piece remained one of erroneously depicting Mass Effect as a game for perverts, marketed for children. Now, as Kotaku reports, Electronic Arts (who recently acquired Mass Effect developer BioWare) is drawing the line.

In a sternly worded letter to Teri VanHorn, producer of Live Desk with Martha MacCallum (which ran the segment on Fox News), Jeff Brown, EA's vice president of communications, writes, "As the parent company of BioWare, the studio which created the game, EA would like you to set the record straight on a number of errors and misstatements which incorrectly characterize the story and character interactions in Mass Effect."

Brown goes on to identify specific untrue statements made by Fox News, including:

That the game portrays full-frontal nudity:

"Fact: Mass Effect does not include explicit or frontal nudity. Love scenes in non-interactive sequences include side and profile shots - a vantage frequently used in many prime-time television shows. It's also worth noting that the game requires players to develop complex relationships before characters can become intimate and players can chose to avoid the love scenes altogether."

That it portrays graphic sex:

"Fact: Sex scenes in Mass Effect are not graphic. These scenes are very similar to sex sequences frequently seen on network television in prime time."

And that the game is marketed to children:

"Fact: That is flat out false. Mass Effect and all related marketing has been reviewed by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) and rated Mature - appropriate for players 17-years and older. ESRB routinely counsels retailers on requesting proof of age in selling M-rated titles and the system has been lauded by members of Congress and the Federal Trade Commission."

Brown finishes the letter with harsh criticism, although he explicitly states EA is not threatening legal action:

The resulting coverage was insulting to the men and women who spent years creating a game which is acclaimed by critics for its high creative standards. As video games continue to take audiences away from television, we expect to see more TV news stories warning parents about the corrupting influence of interactive entertainment. But this represents a new level of recklessness.

Do you watch the Fox Network? Do you watch Family Guy? Have you ever seen The OC? Do you think the sexual situations in Mass Effect are any more graphic than scenes routinely aired on those shows? Do you honestly believe that young people have more exposure to Mass Effect than to those prime time shows?

This isn't a legal threat; it's an appeal to your sense of fairness. We're asking FNC to correct the record on Mass Effect.

Sincerely,

Jeff Brown
Vice President of Communications
Electronic Arts, Inc.

It'll be interesting to see if Fox News meets EA's request, but the fact that publishers are finally holding news agencies that report factually misleading stories about sex and violence in video games publicly accountable can only be a good thing. Whether those news agencies similarly desire to hold themselves accountable for their mistakes remains to be seen.

Comments (120)

"It Makes Being A Parent...

Seriously? It's a parent's RESPONSIBILITY to do that "hard job," no matter how "hard" it is. In truth, a little interest in your child's life isn't that hard, and Fox News blows this way out of proportion. Policing what your children are doing is NOT hard. If you don't care enough about your child to be involved with your child's interested in, then you are not trying as hard as you could, and should, be.

Being a reasonable person and an informed gamer, I can say with certainty that this game is no worse than anything on television. In fact, I would prefer my children play a video game that I myself have beaten and experienced than watching some of the garbage on television. Mass Effect or The Hills? Hmm... let me think about that one for a second...

WOW!!!!!!!

In the first minute Geoff had them retreating, yes. The other girl is like well there's nobody home now to watch the kids. Well you wanted to be like the husband and out working and not at home. That's great it makes for more understanding relationships, but you can't have everything. The guy in the studio what the hell was he about ??? Dragon Age stays under the radar, as well as Gothic 3 I think. Pretty straight forward sex in them too. I think The Witcher had some in it as well. Anyway they are treading on some thin ice here, judging by the responses to the Denver TV station for the story on predators, and how Zach handled himself on Conan and Geoff on Fox news. We are getting educated on the crap they're bringing, I don't think they want to awaken us.

That women

watching that video really shows how ignorant that doctor was
Jeff asked her if she had played the game and she acts like she was all high and mighty
Even though she apologized for it, I think she only did it because gamers pounded her books on amazon and gave it crap reviews.
This could have so been avoided if the so called doctor and the reporter cared to actually do research about MASS EFFECT.
People these days, think that with the status they are everything, but too bad since if they mess with the online/gaming community they're going to get it bad if they can't support what they have to say.

Everyday we get a little more commi

There is a 10sec scene, you see a but and legs, it implys they may be doing it.
what about the other 20hrs of game play?
FOX and whoever started this make me sick to me stomach. What about The game with the Larry guy, why no comments about that?
If children get a game thats rated M its the parents fault!
EA, BIOWARE, YALL FREAKIN ROCK!!!

WOW, I hadn't heard about this...

But that story could have hardly been more inaccurate. Pretty hilarious that everyone clearly ignored everything the guy who actually knew the game said about the actual content. Oh and the ratings for video games ARE on the front and back both. It's DVD movies you have to pick up and look at the back.

PUN ALERT - Fox is Unfair and Biased

I'm pretty sure that censorship groups won't be happy until the words "sex" and "violence" are stricken from the dictionary. So many of these people long for the days when people were "innocent," forgetting the fact that human beings, by nature, are sexual, passionate beings. While I think overexposure to some of the harsher elements of life can be damaging to youngsters, eliminating media specifically targeted towards mature, experienced adults seems to be more a part of the censorship agenda than an attempt to "save our children's minds."
That being said, its good to see EA and game journalists fighting back against the media this time, attempting to show that all video games aren't "murder and sex simulators." I doubt this battle will ever end, as there will always be those who prefer to cover their ears and whistle instead of listening to someone else's argument, but at least we know that the industry isn't just letting the media trample it this time.

Good work, Geoff Keighly!

Geoff Keighly did a good job on defense. I wish he could have thrown in the average gamer's age. I believe it is in the 30's. So, marketing a game to the majority of your audience is not a crime, it's wise.

That...

...was just embarassing, especially to the people who spent years on this game, to have their work ridiculed like this. By the way parents, there's a website called whattheyplay.com, which is actually a very good resource for parents to understand games, and what kind of content is in them. My top 3 favorite quotes from this:
1. We have to cut you off, Geoff.
2. Adults don't play videogames!
3. Whatever happened to the good days of Atari?
You SUCK, Fox News!
Note: Just wait 'til GTA4.

Good old days of Atari!

LOL... Man, there is nothing that neo-cons aren't willing to be nostaligic about to the point of lunacy!
Mass Effect does a far better job of telling a story than nearly all Hollywood blockbusters and primetime TV shows. PLUS, you have to use your brain.
Why are so many people so afraid of a little sex scene? Because they don't understand the medium. That makes it great fear-mongering yellow journalism.

Surprised?

You shouldn't be. Fox News continually pulls stunts like these for no reason other then to outwardly pronounce their total close-mindedness and ignorance. The "Fair And Balanced" reporting done by Fox News mainly consists of conservative right-wing radical republican propaganda, talking about things they know absolutely nothing about, and straight-out total lies. The folks at Fox News constantly talk/lie about things they have no idea about, for example, this issue. Not one of those people there have ever even PLAYED Mass Effect, nor have they apparently done any research whatsoever on the topic. I play Mass Effect frequently, and the sex scene, which lasts only about 1 minute, is not bad at all. It shows things that any child could easily see on prime-time television, as noted in the letter, and is not graphic in any way. There is absolutely NO FRONTAL NUDITY whatsoever, and the game is CLEARLY not marketed to children.
Final thoughts? Fox News should NOT be a trusted news source, because they do no research and consistently lie about things they know nothing about.

omg

this is f**in shit seriously that cooper chic is a straight up idiot and she probably doesnt even have kids herself and shes tryin to tell parents how to watch thier children Fox should look at its owns shows and publish stories on that. Ignorant people make the world a boring place

What?!

That was one of the most retarded stories I have seen ... How can someone judge something without trying it ... It's like a hiring a sport's commentator who has never watched or played the sport ... ridiculous ...

I cant believe this

I'm sure its been said before, but I can not believe these ignorant people are spouting this slander without even so much as picking this game up, the only person who said anything worth a darn is the last panelist who said that Parents should be monitoring what there kids are playing, the 360 has the parental features for a reason and if parents are not going to waste the time to use them then they should not be buying there kids video game systems.

I'm So F**kin Tired...

Of the media putting down games. Espeacially when they havent even played them. Its one thing to be ignorant, but to act on your ignorance and tried to exile a genre is a whole other thing. Mass Effect is exactly what Geoff said. A game where your choices effect the game(I'm paraphrasing). You cant just choose to bang the chick. you actually (like in actual life) have to impress the girl and make her fall in love with you and all that jive. And even when you do that, having sex is still not promised (like in real life). Fox News is just lucky I'm not the Big Boss of EA, cause I would've sued their ass
-Khori-

I Can't Believe We Live In This World

For a brief moment, I thought that the news report I had just watched was a joke. Honest to God, it struck me as parody. These people have only a vague idea of what's going on, and their ignorance shows. It would make me angry, but the truth is that it, in the end, doesn't matter. They can continue to squawk and grown about this fictional "porn game" (I say fictional because such a game does not exist)while I continue to enjoy my Mass Effect, and other games like it. Alien boob or nay.

Angry

I was completely enraged when I read this at kotaku and saw the video. I felt that I could launch a violent attack against them for insulting so badly the work of many men and women for 30 years. I am glad EA is actually doing something about it.

The Gamer Strikes Back

Seems as though the self help author that was on the program finally saw what the game was about and is changing her mind. She called the controversy over Mass Effect a "joke."
â??Before the show I had asked somebody about what they had heard, and they had said itâ??s like pornography,â?? she added. â??But itâ??s not like pornography. Iâ??ve seen episodes of â??Lostâ?? that are more sexually explicit.â??
Rest of the story is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/arts/television/26mass.html?_r=2&ref=arts&oref=slogin&oref=slogin>here</a>
Not only that but people are rating her book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble websites tanking her user reviews.

Ignorance

While I won't attempt to debate the effect of these games on children, Mass Effect is not a game for kids (nor was it marketed as such) and does not have any of the content these people are claiming. If this is the type of journalism we can expect from Fox (good research guys), then I'm not really interested in any of their coverage. They are owned by Murdoch who owns IGN. Couldn't they have at least checked with them first? Morons.
Any sorry, I had playboys in my house when I was a kid and the playboys were way better than anything in Mass Effect. And yes, I've played through the whole game.

6 minute conversation about M is for mature wow there smart

Why is it non-gamer adults can have a seriouse 6 min conversation about how all video games are for kids, when in fact its rated M and they understand what the M stands for. Its strange that adults that haven't held a video game controller since the NES years cant grasp the concept not all games are for kids. Im 26 and have no problem understanding M rating is equal to a R rating and should never be played by a child.
Also our government & news shows should be more concerned with getting our soldiers out of a war that shouldn't even exist right now then talking about such a non issue right now. Maybe there really video game addicts in descise and this is there only way of being able to talk about video games at work.

My favorite part

Is when that very informed young lady says how violence and sex in video games desensitize kids. But she does not mention anything about how the same things on prime time TV, which is way easier for children to get access to are doing the same things! At least if you're playing an xbox, you have the ability to be a good parent and to take some responsibility to monitor and control what your children are able to play.

Oh I get...

...5 "experts" discussing something they've never experienced. Maybe I should go on Fox with 5 of my friends and talk about how awful the FOX news room is, what with all the promiscuous talk behind the scenes and all. Yeah, I've never been in the FOX news room, and, no, I've never even met anyone who works there, but apparently all you need for news these days is one false story from a hole-in-the-wall, back-water source, and away we go. It's shit like this that makes my blood boil....what a sad news source FOX is. 5 goddamn suits and pretty faces yapping about something they have absolutely no goddamn clue about.none what so ever. Ugh.

How?

Of all the things to come out this past year, Mass Effect gets pulled down because it features a 2 minute sex scene? Let's not talk about the full frontal nudity and sex scenes found in God of War 2 where you press the buttons to have sex, let's not forget the sacrificing of a little child or not sacrificing of a little child in Bio Shock. Ignorant news stories usually don't anger me, unfortunately this time I watched the program and could hear the idiots talking.

Faux Noise Network: Making EA Look Good!

And that pretty much puts it all in perspective. Man, all due respect for differing ideologies, but between this shit, O'Reilly, and "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" (mercifully canceled), I don't know how you conservatives can stomach this mess. Is your hatred toward the alternatives so great? Facts are obviously something this network has no interest in, and this demonstrates that disinterest extends well beyond the political arena.
Go find a good conservative blog or read George Will, for Christ's sake! After all, he's counting on you!
P.S. I love how the first guy on the panel with the greasy hair (toupee?) and glasses looks and speaks EXACTLY like one would expect a heavily-repressed, Bible-thumping closet pervert to do. Also, don't worry, "fair and balanced" folks. I'm sure Hillary 'n' friends will be jumping on GTA IV soon enough. Simulated drunk driving. Yeah, that's gonna slip right past 'em!

Mass Effect 30 Hour Long Game Family Guy 30 Mins

So let me get this straight a not even two minute love scene not sex scene in Mass Effect turns it into a evil cross between Debbie Does Dallas meets Star Wars even though it doesn't have full frontal nudity. So Mass Effect is so bad and these so called journalist won't have it in their house. Even though they have a computer in their house where the children has instant access to all kinds of graphic stuff. They also have tv's in their house that has instant access to shows like Family Guy that comes on fox which has more sex and partial nudity in the 30 minutes that it is on than Mass Effect does in the 30 hour long adventure. What a bunch of d*** hypocrites.

I've never had much love for EA...

but kudos to them for calling out Fox News! Fox has been known for making crap up in the past, and they're gonna keep doing it. It's kinda sad that they chose my favorite media format to do it on. Well, I've never paid much attention to anything they've had to say. Now I just have a legitimate reason not to listen to them.

WHEN ARE VIDEO GAMES GOING TO BE TREATED AS A RESPECTED MEDIA????

Movies, Music, TV, and even books basically all of these forms of media have depicted extremely violent and sexual situations. So why is Mass Effect (a game on caliber with "The Matrix", in terms of violence and sexuality) on the news saying that it it is evil because there is a two minute scene that shows half of a butt-crack? If I was the guy from gamehead I probably would have flipped out because of all of the ignorance from the anchors. Then when they move on to the board the woman asks why the game didnt recieve an AO Rating? Thats like asking for an R-rated film to be rated NC-17. Is it going to take this country 50 years to realize that video games are not the work of the devil? Evertytime I see somthing like this on the news I flip shit, because its is so unfair to the gaming industry.... I'm going to stop now, I could probably write a book on this.

ignorance

fox can go ahead and put on these reality show were sex and violence is there sole objective then they can aire the worlds most violent crap 4, and they have the nerve to report sex in a video game they have never played when the actuall "sex scene" is much cleaner then what they play on prime time every weekday

Best story I read all day...

Clueless morons.....

This is great none of these people have played the game or likely even have youtubed the cut scene, which is nothing, but are telling someone who has actually experienced it that he's wrong. This is like telling a war vet that the holocaust never happened.

MAN...

1) Fox news blows. They report on stories so falsely.
2) This bullshit coming from the network that aired "Married With Children?" I saw more tits and sexual innuendo on that show growing up than any other show (AND I COULD SEE SOFTCORE ON SAT. NIGHTS!!!)
3) Hats off to Geoff for trying to talk to people who have never played the game, never will play the game and never realize that the gaming demographic isn't 12-16 year old boys that dominates this industry anymore.
F-FOX!
PS Now...take Family Guy off TV and take away the licensing to kid's pens, shirts, accessories..OH! AND A PS2 game before you run dribble like this again.

FFS

Having played through all of the Mass Effect story, I found the claims laughable when I opened the article.
But I found myself getting angrier and angrier as the story went on. Yet more knee-jerk scaremongering about yet another "evil" videogame.
It's not just that none of the claims against Mass Effect are true, it's the whole idea in general.
If I had a game rated 15 or 18, there is no way my children would have access to it. If I had to password protect my computer or console, I would do. Things would be locked away. They might get to play it, but it sure as hell would be supervised. Just like their net access.
Would you leave a kid unsupervised in a kitchen with boiling water and open flames? No, because they could hurt themselves, right? But I bet these people would leave them unsupervised in front of a TV, where they could change channels and see pretty much the same content on the news or daytime soaps.
There was a time when parents actually took responsibility for their kids. What happened to that?

Do Something (Read all)

It is all good to talk about it here. But if we want this bias to stop, we need to do something about it. Send a polite (and I mean polite) E-mail to Martha@foxnews.com and tell her why you feel this is wrong. Do not speak like you are on a forum. We need to convince these people we are civilized people that understand what they are trying to do. Do not enforce any of their stereotypes. We need to end this crap and we have been handed another opportunity. So if you truly care, this is your chance to do something.

Who gives a cowpie?!!!

Seriously, Fox News is disinformation for the overly conservative sheep to stupid to formulate thought. One viewing of the Bill O'Reilly show will lower your i.q. by 90 points. With guys like O'Reilly who relies on lambasting guests to the point to where they are drowned out by his idiotic rants and people like nazi cunt Anne Coulter, is Fox news even credible or can it even be taken seriously by anyone with half and education? The answer to that should be obvious.

...

I've always been a fan of EA, despite all the crap about them being a uber-conglomerate. It's a mans industry now, about time some shit got accomplished. These games are raking in billions. Don't be surprised if you start seeing more major publishers kicking ass and chewing bubble gum.

Same old song and dance.

This is business as usual for FNC. They've made a conscious decision to be politically bias and have proven that over and over in spade. The fact that there is no laws in place to shut down such false and misleading journalism is a clear sign of what kind of state our country is in. Sure EA could sue for defamation or something like that, but Rupert Murdoch has more money than Zeus and if FNC was ever afraid of loosing law suits they'd actually fact check their content. They just say whatever stirs up the most ire in their conservative viewership so they have bull shit issues to pul out of a bag of tricks to distract the public when dirty politicians do shit worthy of public outrage.

Go check out Foxnews right now,

And you'll see an article called "Don't be a faker", which is focused on not faking your orgasms. These people have some nerve talking about the scene in Mass Effect, and then going on to talk about faking an orgasm. Fox is pathetic.

Finally.....

finally EA is flexing it's very expensive big arms for the good of the gamer I was pi***d when I saw this on SarcasticGamer.com. I am glad that big brother stood up for BioWare and kudos for Geoff for being level headed in the face of brazen stupidity

Fox news? WTF? hypocrites

i always tought that if Fox had news they would talk about paris hilton and britney spears partying or something like that, i live in Mexico, and fox only transmits simpsons, nip tuck, etc...
come on, they make the most stupid series, with full frontal nudity, racism, crude homosexualism, political and religion satyres...
oh and by the way, that psychiatrist bitch probably has never get laid... videogames are not toys, is a new mass culture... controversial at times, maybe, but so was all the new forms of communication in their respective times. So, fuck fox "news" and all those joke sites (like that town hall thingy) and lets just move on with our lives... they cant do anything to change the fact that videogames are here and they'll stay here.

shame on you fox

and kudos to EA. Wow. I'm glad to see someone has the stones to stup up to nut job news media outlets like Fox. Now if only they would do so to jerks like Jack Thompson. I can only hope that this is the begining of something. Hopefully the game industry will finally try to defend itself.

It's about damned time

I actually just gained a ton of respect for EA from this. I'm getting sick and tired of the "These games are marketed to children" bullshit. This is the tripe we hear from people that cannot get it through their skulls that games are not just for children.

oh fux news...you make me laugh.

one tip for the few who still watch fux news, when fux news says something then you should believe the opposite. after all, it's only fux news. on the other hand, I bet Billo got a little excited about using his louffa on one of those alien girls, or maybe even guys. he just comes across as that type of person.

Fox News...what a joke

In true FN fashion, they cut off the person who brings up the valid points, then give the last word to the panel who continues the FN agenda. I don't think any amount of sound reason could convince them that an M rated game isn't for kids.

wow

what a stupid bitch... base your opinion on something you have never experianced. "I wont let mass effect in my home" are these people that stupid and serious. i would hate to be a child of one of these people where they feel they need to monitor your every movement. That was so hard to watch. "I dont understand how it didnt get an AO rating" give me a break. I feel almost offended at their ignorance.

lol fnc

fox news would rather kids to support pointless wars than see a little bit of "se'xbox'"
is it me or did those people at the table need to be sipping tea to complete the look.
seemed a little too rich and pretentious. leave us middle lass gamerz alonezorz.

They did not let the game guy speak.

They did not know anything about the game or play it, they got from somewhere else like a game site and ran with it.. And when he tried to tell people whats really in the game they cut him off and said kids are playing it.
Well guess what if you leave an r-rated movie or pg-13 movie or TV show around i think those are far worse.
And if it was my kid I would let him play mass effect before any teen pg-13 teen movies like austain powers or r-rated american pie there horrible movies and the totaly insane distorted spin they put on sex is far worse.
Mass effec is probaley even good for the damn kids they have to decide do i save the aliens or go after some money somewhere, oh wait what happen kids you went for the money and now your alien buddys you like are dead lesson learned.

Try a little irony, it's good for the blood.

I find many things ironic about the anti-video game lobby: Fox airs all kinds of raunchy TV in prime time while kids are at home (like that new show where they force people to disclose lurid secrets for money) and takes a game company to task for marketing a game with "sex scenes" to kids when it has a big M rating printed plain as day on the cover of the box, and anyone who is halfway literate should be able to read a rating label. Hell, has anyone watched Family Guy lately? I remember when Bush the Elder bitched about Bart Simpson saying "Eat my shorts." I think I have heard Peter Griffin say "shit" in several prime-time Fox episodes now, not in any way censored.
And politicians take games to task while the news is bombarded with politicians embroiled in ugly sex scandals including pedophilia (I'm waiting for a congressman to be accused of bestiality), and when our own President and Vice-President were angling to launch a bloody, expensive war against Iran over a nuclear weapons program that our own intelligence agencies have proven DOES NOT EXIST.

A stupid Mistake made by Fox News.

They screwed up on this story. The reporter's apparently didn't do enough research. If Fox News only did enough checking on this. They may be wrong on this game and look like they were idiots.. I wouldn't know being a Nintendo fan. But Bill O Reilly is right about the far-left.

I believe I'm saying this..

Pffft.

Every body argued the usual, dumb, off the cuff, boiler plate you get when no one present actually knows anything about the game they are complaining about.
The side of a boob is PG-13. It's not "Debbie does Dallas".
The game is not focused on sex but on shooting.
The silly woman who wants to know why it didn't get an adults only rating is the funniest. Obviously it didn't get one because it didn't deserve to. It's got one tacky and I'd even say EMBARRASSINGLY lame part that could probably show on late night network television. That part has no full nudity, no explicit sex.
The whole marketing to children thing is the worst aspect. Claiming something is marketed to children is never backed up with more than an implication that anyone who thinks stuff isn't marketed to children is naive.
This is a bunch of people who think that journalism is reporting on and discussing stuff they have no real information about via 2nd hand heresay. It's sad. And the press (not just Fox but THE PRESS as a whole) does this kind of unprofessional mau mau job on all kinds of subjects from ongoing criminal preceedings(Richard Jewel, The Duke University Lacross team), to science issues, to foreign policy, to medical news. Peopel can get hurt by the this kind of crap. But apparently nobody cares if their dumb ass cosmetic display piece reporters know anything that what they want to tell us about.

WoW!

Not a surprise, since we've always had a load a crap from fox. The smug bastard O'Reily. Why are they even bringing it up now, this was talked about even before the game released last year. The box even says rated M. It's for pretty much adults right, but nooo people like that losers Jack Thompson want to rant on things like this. Before people start bagging on games shouldn't they fix all the more important crap, for instance healthcare?

EA did something right.

What Fox reported is so incorrect and EA id the right thing. Fox should go back on what they said like any other network that screwed up. I guess Fox needed something to fill a spot and thought lets take shots at video games. It is saddening to see this and more importantly how some people heard this and made video games look bad.

Ratings!

I think the people arguing against this game should know what theyre talking about . the woman not only said- youre not able to play as a girl, and that women are viewed as sex toys in games- she also managed to turn this into an attack against video games. Its people who refuse to recognize video games as being okay makes me angry. and obviously it says on the box M for NUDITY!! so maybe she should check next time (sorry i went on a bit of a rant there)

Unbelieveable

OK, I saw this video the other night on Joystiq... and seeing it was Fox, well, I could believe they'd run something like this.
What I find very entertaining is that Fox news stole the video shown from IGN (which is owned by the same company, but does not give them rights to their materials). I saw that hairless, scarred woman and knew exactly who made her!
I was also glad to hear Hillary call them out on stealing their assets on their 360 podcast.
This only proves that Fox will do anything. Way to respect the law!

Unkn0wn3ntity, I agree with you ...

... it also speaks volumes for how ignorant mainstream America is. They are willing to live in fear of everything and believe everything that comes from the news as if it were fact. What ever happened to critical thinkers?!!!

That is like one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen!!

man, kudos to Geoff Keighley for trying to hold that one down, but when there are like 6 or 7 people who have never played video games before, let alone mass effect, it's pretty hard to get your point across!
That girl who came out first, I'm pretty sure everything she said was dead wrong haha!

EA kinder than I thought

Are you kidding me?

Its easy as crap to go to family settings a set it to not allow games over a certain rating and limit the time spent playing. Also if parents are letting video games teach them whats right and wrong they got bigger problems.

Once again, fox news makes asses of themselves

Notice how none of them have ever played Mass Effect, and notice how they don't seem to care about anything but games these days. The people complaining because it makes parenting harder, who ever said it would be easy? All the parents that let their small kids play violent games are to blame, not the creators or the ratings board, they do there job. But most parents are to lazy to even attempt to understand gaming or look at what their kids have access to.

"You have to be involved in what your kids are doing?"

You think so? Thank goodness for the last guy on the panel though.
The chick arguing with Geoff couldn't even form good arguments.
Geoff said, "The game doesn't ask you 'Would you like to have sex?'"
And she answered, "I'm sorry Geoff but I'm going to go with the research. And research shows that teenage boys can't tell the difference between video games and reality."
?????

This is disgusting

I wish people would do their research. There are worst things going on in the street. Clean up real life before striking down things that push our economy In the end it is up to the parents, whether it be playboy or a video game.

Wow....

If there ever was a time for common sense to prevail, this was definitely the moment. And indeed it shines with EA's response. Once again, people need to get their news from not just once source. Not everyone gets it right the first time. It's just too bad that the original story didn't pass the common sense factor.

Nice...

Hypocritical

I love the fact that these morons that have never even played the game, and have admitted it, are free to wildly speculate about something like this. I have seen more in R-rated movies than this game has- the mini game in God of War was more graphic (as were the CG scenes, and those didn't cause an uproar like this). Moreover, nobody would really have known that this was in the game if wasn't for these imbeciles bringing it to the forefront- most people could have played through it without knowing that there was a sexual encounter at all. I don't understand why they would bring someone on the show that has actually played this game to simply just shove him off to the side and say "no, we are right" FOX News- Fair and Balanced my Ass.

Yo Senninnha...

I guess you haven't read about Hillary's stance on video games. The Right is far more "hands off" than the Left when it comes to video games. Check out how recent votes have gone before you vilify Republicans. Hillawench is probably the biggest threat out there to video games.
Look into it.

Emotive article title

What a sad emotive title they gave this article, "Se"XBox, tabloid journalism at its worst - especially given the inaccuracies of the actual factual content so that there would be no support for that emotive title.
Once again, videogames are the easy scapegoat, singled out because folks dont want their guns or beer banned, so lets pick on the one thing that their target market doesnt mind if it gets banned....

I Wouldn't Have Expected Anything Less From FOX NEWS!

It is well known that FOX supports the Republican agenda and are once again talking about "videogames," ""sex," "violence," and "government" in the same news(?!!!) article. This is why OUR generation needs to VOTE come this election so that we make our voices heard and send a message to these biased news corporations.

Their ignorance is sickening

Way to go EA

One positive to come from a Gaming conglomerte...they might have the influece to make themselves heard to a Media-conglomerate like FOX. I am so fatigued and my respect dwindles for the continual inaccruacies, hyperbole, and sensationalism about gaming in the media. As a taxpaying voter...cover something really important...and sensationalize THAT somehow.

I have to get EA some Respect!

Though, if I were them, I'd threaten legal action! I saw this "news" story this morning and it made me sick. Fox should be held accountable for that bullshit. They didn't even give Geoff a fair chance to set the record straight!

+10 Respect Points

Holy shit, EA actually does something that doesn't get on my nerves in any way. I applaud EA for setting the record straight. The media needs to learn to back off and become more reasonable when this kind of stuff is no different than what is seen on prime time, as was stated.

Legal steps next time?

I think the letter was fine, it's nice to see a video game company draw a line in the sand for once. The next time a major news networks pulls this kind of BS it should get sued for defamation. I can assure you that General Mills would do a lot more than send in sternly worded letter if FOX ran a news story claiming that Cheereos now comes with a porn DVD in every box.
At the very least I'd like to see some non gaming news agencies run with this story. I wonder if this story is on the radar of anyone but gaming enthusiasts?

Good for EA

I'm glad EA is trying to set the record straight and Geoff Keighley also deserves mention for going into the lion's den and at least trying to set the record straight although the segment was, as usual, orchestrated such that he wasn't given a fair chance to respond.
If anyone is stupid enough to watch Fox News (a contradiction in terms and false advertising rolled all into one with that title) they wouldn't be able to figure out how to play the game anyway.
I hope other publishers follow EA's lead though and challenge these stories and, frankly, even file libel charges against them.

Bravo Electronic Arts

Nice work Electronic Arts. It good to see a publisher finally stand up for their customers who are constantly viewed in a negative light by the general public. I only wish more companies would do this and get the facts straight to all these non-gamers who paint us a bad picture.
Again, Bravo EA. Now it's time for me to buy Burnout Paradise. ^_^

Fox you piece of shit

Leave it to Fox to actually run a story on pure ignorance. That's why i don't watch that right-winged piece of crap network anymore.
Cooper? That lady is a complete and utter deuchebag.
Thank you Geoff for not sounding dumb and actually holding an intellectual conversation with an ignorant idiot.
Full nudity? My ass! (sorry, but it upsets me when people try their damndest to bring down this industry.... especially with crap statistics... "Maryland says teens can't differentiate between what's real and fake...)

You know

I was originally against EA's consolidation but this is an issue in which I can see it has an advantage. A large and powerful corporation is much more adept at defending itself and its studios than the indies are.

Fox

Is universally known for being heartless and lacking ethics in news. I worked for Fox for a summer and the term "if it bleeds it leads" was used so often I thought I'd be sick. I guess you can't expect anything more from a news company that makes a 1" snowstorm sound like the end of days.

Finally

you took the words out of my mouth. EA is on a role, defending Bioware and gaming in general and not hard-balling media when they get bad reviews. hopefully they're learning that this is the way to lead and succeed rather than rehash old games for a fast buck

Once again,

Mainstream media gets it ALL wrong. In my opinion, if the game industry were to continue things like this, video games will hopefully not be thought of as toys and be thought of as a form of media, just like TV.